(RTTNews) - Wilshire Bancorp Inc. (WIBC) has been climbing steadily since Thursday's open. The stock is currently at $11.43 up $1.35 from Wednesday's close.

(RTTNews) - Career Education Corp. (CECO) has been climbing steadily since Thursday's open and has been picking up volume along the way. Currently, the stock is trading at $17.25 up $0.96 from Wednesday's close.

By Sam Seiden, an experienced equities and futures trader, as well as a trading educator*
Posted: July 18, 2008

Many email messages I receive deal with entries, so I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this topic. "Profit Margin" is the term we use when referring to the objectively derived potential profit of a trade. We calculate the profit margin by measuring the distance between the supply (resistance) level and the demand (support) level.

By Kathy Lien, Chief Strategist of DailyFX.com*
Posted: July 11, 2008

One of the most popular ways to trade currencies is to try to pick tops and bottoms. Although many FX experts, including me, stress the effectiveness of trend trading in the currency market, fading a trend tempts many people into what often becomes a frustrating endeavor.

A perfect example is the EUR / USD, which first looked as though it could top out at 1.45 but then moved on to hit a high just shy of 1.60. Countless numbers of FX traders have tried to fade this move, but a quick glance at the charts shows that, even though some profit was made fading the 2-year uptrend, far more money was made by traders who simply stayed with the trend.

By Dr. Mircea Dologa

In a previous article (see "Integrating Andrews' Pitchfork with Other Tools for Successful Trading"), I provided something of an introduction to Andrews' Pitchfork and described a little of the value it can bring to your trading. Now let's see it in operation.

Spotting the Trade Opportunity

The process of low-risk, high-probability trade spotting is very systematized for the experienced trader. He or she visually scans the various choices of the operational time frame charts: 60-, 30- and 15-minute and, less frequently, the 5-minute chart.

By Vincent Troncone of Pennies from Heaven, The Market Reversal Report and Vindicator*

Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who, centuries ago, discovered a pattern that occurs naturally throughout our world. This pattern is exhibited in the behavior of stock and commodities markets to some extent as well.

Fibonacci forecasting is certainly nothing new or something I created, but it is simple and tends to work well when applied properly.

In the markets, this relationship is expressed in price. Basically, the Fibonacci Method states that commodity / stock prices will increase or decrease at specific ratios times the current wave of market price action. We will use the ratio of 1.618 for our application here.

Reviewed by Ed Dobson, President, Traders Press, Inc.


I find few things more gratifying than reading a book that is intelligently written and imparts practical knowledge on the difficult task of extracting profits from the marketplace. Perry Kaufman's Smarter Trading rates high on the short list of books that I would place in this category. Two books, which I have previously reviewed and which shall remain nameless, struck me as very intelligently written, yet they taught me nothing that I felt would prove to be practical for use in trading Euros or soybeans next week. Two others, Gallacher's Winner Take All (now, unfortunately, out of print) and Elder’s Trading for a Living, stand out as two of my own favorites and are among my standard recommendations to new traders.

The primary focus of this book is the factors to be considered and procedures to be followed in the development of a sound, robust trading strategy that should prove profitable over a wide range of rapidly changing market conditions. Readers of this column have undoubtedly bought, or contemplated buying, trading systems that show tantalizingly impressive results.

After reading this book, they will be, in my opinion, far better qualified to make intelligent and well informed decisions about which systems are likely to prove profitable in actual trading, as opposed to the hypothetical results that are typically the basis on which most systems are advertised and purchased. Likewise, those who are inclined to develop their own trading systems will gain valuable knowledge and insight into the factors that should be considered when designing a system.

Kaufman makes the reader aware of the many sweeping changes that have taken place in markets in recent years, which often translate into "methods that used to work but no longer do". Changes in technology have made market awareness and education far more widespread among the investing public than ever before. Normal seasonal patterns in commodities have changed greatly (opposite-season supplies of soybeans and OJ from Brazil, for example). Kaufman's conclusion: "To forecast successfully is to accept the inevitability of change and the risks associated with it. You cannot assume that the future will be the same as the past, that the risks and profits and patterns will repeat themselves."

Many difficulties associated with successful trading are explained, such as "unables", execution problems and slippage. The importance of reasonable expectations and learning what is most likely to happen are emphasized. Several of the "tried and true" maxims of conventional trading wisdom are challenged: Kaufman shows how the use of stop-loss orders may actually increase rather than decrease risk, and he advocates profit-taking objectives and rules in lieu of "letting profits run" until the trend changes.

You learn about "price shocks", which represent the "ultimate risk" and "which cause the ruin of more traders than any other problem", and how to plan for them and deal with them when they occur. Today's sophisticated trading technologies, such as fuzzy logic, neural networks and expert systems are explained. Considerable attention is given to the quality of being robust (ability of a trading strategy to succeed under many conditions) and how to test for and incorporate it into your own system. The reader is taught how to use sound procedures and statistical methods to develop a strategy.

Despite lots of math and statistical analysis techniques, the book is written in such a clear and readily understood style that even this math-challenged trader felt right at home with all the concepts. This is a book that makes you think. I believe it will become the standard reference on the development of a trading strategy.

(RTTNews) - Teradyne Inc. (TER) is dropping during pre-m,arket trading on Thursday following the release of quarterly results that failed to meet analysts' expectations.

(RTTNews) - The euro edged away from recently-touched lows on Thursday in New York. The European currency had hit near-term lows against the dollar, sterling and yen before modest recoveries.